American Revolution: Events Leading to War
Overview
Students will learn about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War and develop an understanding of the
causes of Patriot resentment of the British. Students will experience emotions similar to those felt by colonists
by participating in an experiential activity. They will then represent various opinions of the time by creating a
political cartoon focused on a particular event, tax, act, or law.
Grade
8
Essential Questions
• What were the causes and effects of the Revolutionary War?
• How did colonist’s perspectives of colonial laws and taxes issued during the Revolutionary Period differ
from the perspective of the British?
• What events occurred that enhanced hostility between Patriots and Loyalists?
Materials
• Fictional Memo from the Superintendent, example attached
• “American Revolution: Events Leading to War” Power Point (in PDF format) available in the Database of K12 Resources at
https://k12database.unc.edu/files/2012/04/AmericanRevolutionEventsLeadingtoWarPPT.pdf
o To view this PDF as a projectable presentation, save the file, click “View” in the top menu bar of the
file, and select “Full Screen Mode”
o To request an editable PPT version of this presentation, send a request to CarolinaK12@unc.edu
• America’s Growing Revolutionary Spirit, handout and answer key attached
• Revolutionary War Political Cartoon examples, attached
• Revolutionary Cartoons Assignment, attached
Duration
60-90 minutes (split over two class periods)
Procedures
Day 1
Experiencing Colonial Sentiment: Unfair Taxation
1. As students enter the room, greet them at the door with a concerned look while handing them a memo
from the school superintendent, stating that all students will have to pay a tax to use their lockers from
today forward. Any students refusing to pay the tax will have to carry their items with them throughout
the day (See the attached Memo from the Superintendent as an example. Teachers should create a similar
document that will appear believable to students.) As students read they will likely be angered by this.
Encourage discussion (the more you can get students riled up, the better) and chart their comments on the
board. As you invite students to comment, also ask them to brainstorm ideas for changing this decision.
➢ Teacher note: If students do not have lockers, choose another item or process to tax that is appropriate to
your school day, such as carrying book bags or participating in PE or Art.
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2. Explain that the superintendent will waive the fee of the first students who volunteer to collect the locker
tax and see if any students would like to submit their name. You may also go as far as asking students if
any are ready to pay today, so that their locker use is secure for the rest of the month.
3. Finally, explain to students that the memo is not real and have them reflect on their feelings through the
process. You may ask questions such as:
• How did you feel when you read the memo?
• Why did so many of you feel angry or cheated?
• Why was your response to this memo so passionate?
• How did you feel about the superintendent and why? Is there anything he/she could have done to
have made you accept this decision more readily?
• How did you feel about your classmates who volunteered to collect money or pay their tax today?
4. At this point, make it clear to students how their feelings throughout this activity were similar to the
feelings of American colonists in the late 1700s, when colonists coined the phrase “no taxation without
representation.” Briefly describe parallels such as the Navigation Acts of 1660 & 1663, the Sugar Act, the
Stamp Act, and the Tea Act.
Issues and Events Leading to the Revolutionary War
5. Explain to students that they will be learning about the many issues and events that caused major hostility
between colonists and the British, culminating in the Revolutionary War. Either in partners or individually,
handout the attached worksheet for students to complete (individually or in pairs), instructing them to use
their text books, prior knowledge, and inferences to complete the answers.
➢ Optional: Use the “Events Leading to the American Revolution Power Point” to disseminate background
information and facilitate discussion regarding pre-Revolution events, located in CEC’s Database of Civic
Resources.
6. Once students are finished, go over the correct answers (and/or take up their work for an assessment) and
discuss:
• If you were a colonist living in America in the late 1700s, which event, tax, act, or law would have
angered you most and why?
• As you considered British perspectives and the colonist perspectives, what reoccurring themes did you
notice?
• In what ways did colonists take civic action and express their feelings towards British rule and
decisions? (Discuss specific civic activity such as the Non-Importation Association, boycotts, the
Boston Tea Party, the Edenton Tea Party, etc.)
• Imagine if Patriots had not acted on their displeasure. How might things have turned out different in
America? Why is civic participation important?
➢ Teacher note: Students will need to use their completed handout during the second part of the lesson.
Thus, teachers should either collect the handouts or inform students that they will need to bring them to
class tomorrow.
Day 2
Experiencing the Writs of Assistance
7. This warm up requires a bit of acting skills on the teacher’s part, but should not take more than a few
minutes to act out. As the class gets settled, the teacher should pretend to be very angry and inform
students that at some point yesterday, your wallet was stolen out of your desk. Explain that you are
disappointed, upset, and fairly certain it was someone in this exact classroom who did it. Ask students if
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they have any information and escalate your anger when students do not respond. Finally, tell them that
you are all going into the hall, and each of them will open their lockers for you to search. Make them
believe that you mean business. (If students do not have lockers, teachers can substitute the threat, such
as tell students that all of their book bags will be searched.)
8. Finally, let students know that you have made up this scenario. Have students reflect back on their feelings
by asking how they felt about the idea of being forced to open their lockers/book bags for a search, even
when they were innocent. As students debrief, explain that during colonial times, many merchants were
constantly put in the same situation as British tax collectors presented writs of assistance (search
warrants) to go through their businesses. This was another factor in causing American hostility towards the
British.
9.
Creating Political Cartoons
Tell students that they will apply their knowledge of the causes of the Revolutionary War by creating a
political cartoon based on a tax, law, or event from yesterday’s handout. It is important students know the
difference between a regular cartoon and a political cartoon so that they do not create simple drawings;
rather they create cartoons representing opinion, irony, commentary, etc. Make sure to discuss the
definition and characteristics of political cartoons, and use examples to enforce this (see attached
Revolutionary War Political Cartoons). As you project these examples, ask:
• What do you see? (Students should simply point out all symbols, characters, objects, text, etc. that
they notice. Try to keep them from jumping to interpretation until all pieces of the cartoon are pointed
out.)
• What do you think? What message is the artist trying to convey? What do the symbols represent?
• What techniques has the artist used and why? (exaggeration, caricatures, humor, sarcasm, etc.)
• If you were an American Patriot, would you agree with the cartoonist? Why?
• If you were a Loyalist, would you agree with the cartoonist? Why?
10. Hand out the attached Revolutionary Cartoon Assignment Sheet and discuss your expectations. Encourage
students to ask questions about the assignment. Remind them to create a political cartoon, and not a
simple drawing. Let students know when their cartoon is due and that it will be shared with the class on
that date.
11. Upon completion of the cartoons, number and display the students’ work around the room and give them
the opportunity to “tour” the classroom, interpreting the meaning behind each political cartoon.
• Review class expectations before allowing students to travel around the room to viewed the displayed
work (i.e. remind students to be respectful, positive, and safe as they move throughout the
classroom.)
• Instruct students to travel with notebook paper, noting the number of each cartoon they view and
taking notes on what they see and like, and what their fellow student artist might be trying to convey.
• Once students have viewed the cartoons, have the class participate in a feedback session and
discussion of the various political cartoons. This will serve as a great way to review the causes of the
Revolutionary War.
➢ Alternative assignment: Another option for a culminating assignment is to assign students a topic from the
handout and have them create a headline poster. Finished posters should have four components:
• a headline statement that summarizes the event (it should be catchy, short and does not just list the
event)
• summary of the event (at least 4 bullet points)
• summary of how the colonists reacted to the event (at least 2 bullet points)
• visual images-the poster should be eye catchy, neat and have at least one visual
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Name: __________________________________
Definition
America’s Growing Revolutionary Spirit
How would Loyalists have felt about this event?
How would Patriots have felt about this event?
Picture or Symbol
Using your prior knowledge, your book, the internet, or any other resource in this room, research the following acts, events, and issues that contributed to
the Revolutionary spirit of America. For each term:
1. Define what it is.
2. Infer how Patriots and Loyalists may have felt about the act, event, issue, etc.
3. Sketch a small picture or symbol that represents the term and will help you remember its meaning.
Tax or Event
Writs of assistance
Albany Plan of Union,
1754
Proclamation of 1763
Sugar Act, 1764
Quartering Act, 1765
Tax or Event
Stamp Act, 1765
Stamp Act Congress,
1765
Declaratory Act of 1766
Sons of Liberty
Non-Importation
Association
(1768)/boycotts
Definition
How would Patriots have felt about this event?
How would Loyalists have felt about this event?
Picture or Symbol
Tax or Event
Boston Massacre, 1770
Boston Tea Party, 1773
Intolerable Acts, 1774
Battles of Lexington and
Concord, 1775 (“the shot
heard round the world”)
The Declaration of
Independence, 1776
Definition
How would Patriots have felt about this event?
How would Loyalists have felt about this event?
Picture or Symbol
America’s Revolutionary Spirit- ANSWER KEY
A legal document that serves as a general search warrant to British officers. This document enabled officials to inspect not only
shops and warehouses, but also private homes.
A plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. The plan was adopted on July 10, 1754,
by representatives from seven of the British North American colonies. Although never carried out, it was the first important plan to
conceive of the colonies as a collective whole united under one government.
This Proclamation was issued by King George III to organize Britain's new North American empire and to stabilize relations with
Native North Americans through regulation of trade, settlement, and land purchases on the western frontier. The Proclamation of
1763 forbade English colonists to live west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The Sugar Act set a tax on sugar and expanded the list of taxable items to include specified wines and cloth, coffee, tropical foods
and silk.
This act required the colonies to provide the basic needs of British soldiers- specified items included housing, cooking utensils,
firewood and candles.
The Stamp Act of 1765 was a tax imposed by the British Parliament on the colonies that required them to pay a tax on every piece
of printed paper they used (legal documents, licenses, ship’s papers, newspapers, etc.). The money collected by the Stamp Act was
to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier.
The Stamp Act Congress convened in New York City on October 7 with nine colonies in attendance to discuss and act upon the
Stamp Act. The delegates approved a 14-point Declaration of Rights and Grievances. The statement said that colonial taxation could
only be carried out by their own assemblies, not Great Britain.
This act of the Parliament of Great Britain was one in a series of resolutions passed attempting to regulate the behavior of the
colonies. It stated that Parliament had the right to make laws for the colonies in all matters –including taxation.
A secret organization of American colonists formed initially to protest the Stamp Act. Members of the group, including merchants,
businessmen, lawyers, journalists, and others, took on the motto "no taxation without representation."
The Non-Importation Agreements were a series of commercial restrictions adopted by American colonists to protest British taxation.
Merchants in New York, Boston and Philadelphia agreed collectively to boycott British imports until Parliament repealed the Stamp
Act.
Definition
*Answers will vary for Columns 2 and pictures/symbols will vary for Column 3
Tax or Event
Writs of assistance
Albany Plan of Union,
1754
Proclamation of 1763
Sugar Act, 1764
Quartering Act, 1765
Stamp Act, 1765
Stamp Act Congress,
1765
Declaratory Act of 1766
Sons of Liberty
Non-Importation
Association
(1768)/boycotts
Boston Massacre, 1770
Boston Tea Party, 1773
During the Boston Massacre, five civilian colonists were killed by British soldiers. It was the culmination of civilian-military tensions
that had been growing since royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden.
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action protest by colonists in Boston against the British government. On December 16, 1773, after
officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the
tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor.
Intolerable Acts, 1774
Battles of Lexington and
Concord, 1775 (“the shot
heard round the world”)
The Declaration of
Independence, 1776
“Intolerable Acts” was a popular name given by Americans to four laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 in response to the
Boston Tea Party. The Intolerable Acts, also called Coercive Acts, were intended to punish the colony of Massachusetts for
destroying tea that belonged to the East India Company and to show the other American colonies what might happen if they
disobeyed British policies.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on
April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between Great Britain
and the colonies.
A statement, written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, that was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which
announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were now independent states, and thus no longer a
part of the British Empire
STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCITON
301 North Wilmington Street, Raleigh, 27601
To:
All North Carolina Principals
From: The Office of the State Superintendent
Re:
Taxation of student locker use
Please note that effective <<insert date>>, all North Carolina public school students will be taxed
monthly for the use of their school locker. This tax is non-negotiable, and any student refusing to pay
the tax will loose their locker privileges.
The funds collected will assist in the proposed renovation of the State Superintendent’s office, as
well as the purchase of new office furniture for Board of Education employees working at 301 N.
Wilmington Street in Raleigh. The tax will be $4.00 per month, a fee that we feel is quite reasonable.
While we understand this may be a controversial issue, it is important all students and families
recognize that we have no other choice due to recent budget cuts to our state education budget. We
trust that every North Carolina student and family will do their part to assist in this matter.
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Revolutionary War Political Cartoons Examples
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Name: ________________________________________
Revolutionary Cartoons Assignment
Due date: ___________________________________
Assignment:
Create a political cartoon focused on an event, tax, act, or law that contributed
to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.
Expectations
Points
Possible
Points
Awarded
Meets requirements of a political cartoon: contains opinion,
commentary, satire, etc.
Content:
focuses on contributing factor of Rev. War
Accuracy:
shows a clear and correct understand of contributing factor represented
Graphics:
clarity, originality, and relevance to the assignment
Creativity:
color, original idea evident, overall attractiveness, etc.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Name: ________________________________________
Revolutionary Cartoons Assignment
Due date: ___________________________________
Assignment:
Create a political cartoon focused on an event, tax, act, or law that contributed
to the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.
Expectations
Points
Possible
Points
Awarded
Meets requirements of a political cartoon: contains opinion,
commentary, satire, etc.
Content:
focuses on contributing factor of Rev. War
Accuracy:
shows a clear and correct understand of contributing factor represented
Graphics:
clarity, originality, and relevance to the assignment
Creativity:
color, original idea evident, overall attractiveness, etc.
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